Safety hooks have been proposed and utilized in the past which include a curved hook body combined with a rotatable safety latch which may be moved to open and closed positions so that chains or slings supporting a load may be disconnected from or connected to the hook body. Many of these safety hook constructions have utilized locking means to prevent inadvertent movement of the latch to an open position to prevent the hook accidentally becoming disconnected from its load. The locking means used in many such safety hooks were not positioned such that the locking means could be easily unlocked using the fingers of one hand. Further placement of some of the locking means required the operator to place his fingers or hand inside the bowl within the hook body thus subjecting the hand to pinching or crushing between the hook body and the chain or sling connected to the load.
In some conventional safety hook assemblies, the latch is mounted for rotation about a load or axle pin which in turn is connected to the hook body and which extends between spaced ear portions of the hook body. In such constructions, the ends of the axlepin are headed or swaged or retaining caps are used in hook body ear holes to prevent disengagement of the axlepin from the hook body. Wear or damage between the latch and the load pin is not readily observable in such constructions because the ear portions of the hook body interfere with visual inspection of the fit between the load pin and latch.
It is therefore an object of my invention to provide for a safety hook which will include a locking means to prevent inadvertent rotation of a latch with respect to a hook body and which may be readily manipulated with one hand so allowing the latch to be easily released. The locking means is further so positioned that it is not necessary for the operator to place his hands inside the bowl of the hook body so reducing possibility of pinching or crushing the hand.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a safety hook construction wherein the fit between movable parts is readily accessible for visual inspection for wear or damage to the parts.